This is the whole article from Comfort Delgro website :
18 January 2006
Record 75,000 call bookings made in a single day
18 January 2006 ComfortDelGros group of taxi companies, Comfort,
CityCab and Yellow-Top, catered to a record 75,000 booking jobs on
12 January 2006, one of the wettest days so far this year.
That achievement comes on top of a record 1.3 million bookings
which were recorded in December 2005. While December has
traditionally been a month for higher call bookings because of the
festive season and the rainy weather, the recent December figures
are testimony to the efficiency of the ComfortDelGro
state-of-the-art call booking system and growing acceptance by
commuters of the concept of calling for a cab.
Currently, all of ComfortDelGros CityCab taxis are using the
General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) technology to wirelessly
connect taxis through the in-vehicle Mobile Display Terminal (MDT).
This has resulted in a shorter confirmation time for passengers who
call in to the system - they now wait an average of 25 seconds for
a taxi number to be given compared to the average of 40 seconds
before. Pick-up has also become more efficient and commuters are,
on average, picked up within 6 minutes of the confirmation. The
more efficient booking system is also good news to the taxi drivers
who can now get more booking jobs and as a result, earn a higher
income. Comfort and Yellow-Tops existing CabLink taxi booking
system has also begun its migration process to the new booking
system and this is expected to be completed by the end of 2006.
When completed, commuters will have greater access to all 16,000
ComfortDelGro taxis with the introduction of a single booking
hotline.
The increase in number of booking calls has resulted in an 11%
increase in call bookings in 2005. In all, ComfortDelGro drivers
catered to a record 14.2 million taxi bookings or, on average, more
than 1 million taxi bookings a month. The catered rate was
maintained at a high 90%, which meant that 9 in ten calls that we
received resulted in a successful booking.
Said Mr Yang Ban Seng, Chief Executive Officer of ComfortDelGros
Taxi Business: In the last two years, many commuters have found
that it is a lot faster and convenient to pick up that phone and
call for a cab, especially during peak period, rather than wait by
the road side, hoping to flag down a cab. Our drivers are also
happier as this means that they will have to spend less time
cruising along the roads looking for passengers.
Since 15 July 2005, booking fees during off-peak hours have been
reduced to $2.50 while the peak period booking charge has been
increased slightly to $4. Peak hours are classified as
7.30am9.30am, and 5pm11pm on weekdays. All other times, including
weekends and public holidays, are classified as off-peak.
Addressing the concern that taxi drivers will adopt a
pick-and-choose attitude so that they can get more booking jobs, Mr
Yang said: Comfort and Yellow-Top taxis come with the automated
LED rooftop signs which make it impossible for drivers to
manipulate. This means that they cannot show that they are On
Call when they are not. We are extending this to CityCab taxis as
well.
Background:
ComfortDelGro is the worlds second largest land transport company
with a total fleet size of about 40,000 buses, taxis and rental
vehicles. It has operations in several countries including China,
the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, Vietnam and Malaysia.
Currently, 37% of the Groups revenue comes from overseas
investments.
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Sorry if this press release came too late.
